This is an insight written by Heather DeMocker on the Bahá’í Chair for World Peace 2018 Annual Lecture: Deconstructing Race/Reconstructing Difference presented by Professor Jabari Mahiri, University of California Berkeley, on September 20, 2018.Continue reading

This is an insight written by Julia Thomas on the Bahá’í Chair for World Peace 2018 Annual Lecture: Deconstructing Race/Reconstructing Difference presented by Professor Jabari Mahiri, University of California Berkeley, on September 20, 2018. Continue reading

Celebrating Inspiring Women

International Women’s Day 2018

International Women’s Day has been observed since the early 1900’s and is a day for celebrating the achievements of women across the globe. To mark the day we asked some of our students to write about women who have inspired them.

This is an insight written by Esther Kaufman on the recent 1oth UN Session of the Forum on Minorities.

Is the cost of globalization the extinction of ancestral identities?

The UN held the 10th session of the Forum on Minorities from the 28th of November to the 1st of December 2017. This conference welcomed organizations from across the world to speak as representatives of their respective minority nations, and to air their concerns to the International community. Continue reading

This is an insight written by Margo Shear on a lecture given by Dr. Mehnaz Afridi as part of the Bahá’í Chair series on human nature.

Perspective on History

The Bahá’í Chair for World Peace recently hosted Dr. Mehnaz Afridi, associate professor of religious studies and director of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Interfaith Education Center at Manhattan College. The subject of her lecture, “Muslims and the Holocaust: Reconciliation and Hope,” drew interest from guests in the hopes of exploring a dark part of history – from a different perspective. Continue reading

Atrium, Stamp Student Union, University of Maryland, College Park

The First Political Order: Sex, Governance and National Security

The turn-out to the Baha’i Chair of World Peace’s First Annual Lecture on Thursday, September 21st was impressive. The audience included University of Maryland students, teachers and deans, as well as amazing visitors from all over the world. There could not have been a better topic addressed in the presence of some of the most significant minds involved with the promotion of international peace.

Atrium, Stamp Student Union, University of Maryland, College Park, MD.

Do Ethics have a Place in Capitalism?

Is capitalism the best ideology for society? As the income gap between the rich and poor grows nationally and global inequality persists, it would be beneficial to reflect on what values drive the system.

Both critiques and advocates of the capitalist system—an economic model driven by the free market and operates outside of state control— rely on the field of economics to shape their arguments. This field of study has always played an important role in understanding human behavior and specifically the interaction between humans and their society. Continue reading

The Bahá’í Chair for World Peace is very excited to welcome all of the new, and returning students, back to campus for the start of the fall semester! We hope everyone is settling in and enjoying the first day of classes.

We look forward to seeing many of you at our upcoming fall lecture series. All the lectures are open to the campus community and the public and are free to attend. These events bring leading thinkers to campus to examine obstacles to global peace, and solutions for overcoming those obstacles. Continue reading

Yuval Noah Harari’s, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, is an exceedingly unique and captivating read primarily because of its brevity. In a mere 400 pages, Israeli historian Harari presents and analyzes over 50,000 years of human history. Continue reading

It’s hard to remember that our lives are such a short time. It’s hard to remember when it takes such a long time.” – Isaac Brock

This is an insight written by Esther Kaufman on an event cosponsored by The Bahá’í Chair for World Peace and organized by the Future of Information Alliance on June 6, 2017 at the Phillips Collection. Continue reading

Great Minds

Eleanor Roosevelt encouraged people to hold elevated conversations. She once said that “great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; and small minds discuss people.” I have not heard a more elevated conversation than the week-long discussion between the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu documented in vivid detail in The Book of Joy by Douglas Abrams. Continue reading

This is an insight written by Esther Kaufman on the lecture given by Professor Kathleen Cunningham as part of the Bahá’í Chair for World Peace series on Leadership and Global Governance.

Non-violence as an influential strategy?

Professor Kathleen Gallagher’s lecture on self-determination of nationalistic organizations offers insightful and relevant evidence on moving towards a peaceful society. Groups seeking self-determination have been known to have high internal fragmentation that is associated with the use of violence in pursuit of political recognition. Continue reading

A Book for Our Times

The white working class – this demographic group claimed center stage in American political discourse over the past year. I often see them dismissed as backwards, uneducated conservatives. Alternatively, we offer trite solutions for their plight without fully comprehending the problem. Continue reading

In many ways, the new world’s first free country was not the United States, where much of the population was enslaved. The first free country was Haiti, roughly the size of Maryland and located in the Caribbean, at its peak Haiti was the most prosperous colony in the world which enabled France, and other Western nations, to acquire wealth at the expense of its own development. Continue reading

When Dr. des Bouvrie prefaced her lecture with the question, “Can women think?” the entire audience looked around with faces of confusion and some with disdain. It seemed rather preposterous that a woman would be questioning if she or any other woman has the ability to think. Continue reading

This is a reflection written by Esther Kaufman on the lecture given by Dr. Nicole des Bouvrie on the 30th of November 2016.

Why We Should Search for the Impossible

What if the question, “Can Women Think?” is not an absurd question? Dr. des Bouvrie began her lecture by introducing historic western philosophers whose ideas have established the foundation of Western thinking. From ancient times, white male philosophers have built identities based on differences. Following their philosophies women cannot think, or at least, not as men do. Continue reading

This is a book review of The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt. The review was written by Vicky Yu.

Morality and common sense suffer from the same underlying assumptions; we believe that people all abide by the same principles. Experience teaches us that common sense is not universal, but accepting the same verdict on morality is more difficult. Acknowledging differences in how we determine right versus wrong fundamentally alters perceptions of who we are and our place in the world. Continue reading

This is a reflection written by Esther Kaufman on the lecture given by Dr. Rashawn Ray as part of the Bahá’ì Chair for World Peace series on Structural Racism.

Racism as a Barrier to Justice

Dr. Rashawn Ray’s emotional presentation on “Why Police Compliance Does Not Save Black Lives” left me feeling a deep sense of disappointment in our society’s failure to recognize and deal with racism. He began his lecture with the juxtaposition of videos and statistics that emphasized the differences between races in police compliance and non-compliance. Continue reading

This is a book review of Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson. The review was written by Esther Kaufman.

“Mercy is most empowering, liberating and transformative when it is directed at the undeserving,” writes author Bryan Stevenson in his book, Just Mercy. This is a concept that is difficult but perhaps essential to embrace as the media constantly divides people and societies into heroes and villains. I was born to immigrant parents who fled anti-Semitism and praise America as the land that gave their families mercy when no other state could. Yet, Bryan Stevenson’s portrayal of the American criminal justice system revealed injustices that disrupted all of my preconceived notions regarding America’s inherit goodness.Continue reading →

My initial reaction to the topic of this talk, was a visceral sense of discomfort. “Orthodox” religious communities conjure up stereotypes of intense social conservatism: traditional, nuclear families, dogmatic leaders and a disdain for the evolution of an increasing secular and liberal youth. “Ultra-Orthodox” (U-O) could only be worse. Continue reading